Returning to Paradise

[Rockheart]

I picked up all kind of junkies in my cab when I was driving in America. Even pot smokers were people I stayed away from, except hot girls (GGs) when not in business. I won't change my habits now. Thanks heaven, although there is weed in Vietnam, it's not accepted yet and I know how to prefer areas with ladyboys and without drug.

I am not sure how you knew people were pot smokers? Most pot smokers don't usually look intoxicated from pot alone.
You don't really stagger or slur their speech and most people just look and act like normal.
Anyone who is really wasted will have taken other drugs or drank alot of booze.

I'm not saying you need to smoke pot, i am just saying it is way more common that you realize.
It relieves stress and lowers blood pressure which aids in maintaining erections.

People smoke weed in Vietnam like crazy. Vietnam has excellent product.
The fact you don't really notice it just shows you how ubiquitous it really is.

https://vietnamchronicles.com/cannabis-in-vietnam

[P&G]

And get troubles with the police. They were rough in the USA. It's also dangerous here.

[flamingofarmer]

A bit bit off topic . This vid from Cambodia but represents most of SE Asian . Reminds me of an ant carrying home a morsel of food back to the nest....that's a fourth generation Honda Prelude and weighs about 1290kg ( with drivetrain intact). That's a tough trike he's got it on!!!

[George Pill]

Ow! Ouchiiiiiiiiiieeeeeeeeeee!!! Wonder how anybody got it on the tricycle? And how to get it off at the destination? Never underestimate how small Filipinos are. Once some schmucks tried to steal my fellow student's refrigerator from the back of his rented house. Somebody tried once to break into my apartment by stealing the jack from my landlord's truck and pry my steel window cage open. Flips so stoopid. Why didn't they just jump over the tall cinder block wall and crowbar my back door. I think my maid was the lookout. She so stoopid, too. I set a trap by placing a bottle of Jack Daniel's whiskey on my dinner table. Eventually I noticed that the aluminum foil was broken and the level of the whiskey began to vary each week until the color of the mixture became increasingly pale. Nailed her. Fired her without pay. More than one way to skin a Flop.

Outstanding photo. So much fun travelling around the world and observing the problem-solving skills of poor people who can make do with so little but their ingenuity.

[Rockheart]

A bit bit off topic . This vid from Cambodia but represents most of SE Asian . Reminds me of an ant carrying home a morsel of food back to the nest....that's a fourth generation Honda Prelude and weighs about 1290kg ( with drivetrain intact). That's a tough trike he's got it on!!!

I never saw a Thai Tow truck before....
Doesn't that Trike say AAA?

[flamingofarmer]

I would think that's going to a scrap yard to be offloaded with a crane or forklift. Cambodian street is pretty f'd up

[flamingofarmer]

TAT scheme to boost economy.... they want to turn domestic Thai tourism , in other words, people from Thailand who might be willing or wanting to travel abroad, into domestic Travelers to help stimulate the economy before they open up borders fully to the rest of the world.

https://www.thestar.com.my/aseanplus...estic-tourists

[flamingofarmer]

Another scheme... discreet tourisim....think this was discussed before?

https://www.thestar.com.my/aseanplus/aseanplus-news/2020/06/07/thailand-prepares-for-discreet-reopening-of-tourism-industry#.Xtx8X5D7J7g.twitter

[flamingofarmer]

This one completley flies in the face of the current "rights" situation in the world today .

An idea that is a racial pointed but possibly well meaning health policy; No non thais in certain temples or travel modes...

https://www.bangkokpost.com/opinion/opinion/1934032/thais-only-policy-is-racism-pure-and-simple

[flamingofarmer]

New normal policy is underway for Thai tourism . Heres what it will entail...
quotes from article...." While staying in Thailand, tourists are required to install and use a tracking application on their smartphone for the safety and protection of travelling in and out of sealed areas."
"Booking (in advance): Best practices would mean advanced bookings will be required. Travel plans will become a necessity, including the number of people, date, time, and expenses, which will need to be calculated beforehand under the restriction of numbers and social distancing conditions"

Convenient rules to set up ongoing tracking of all peeps on a network...tourist or thais.

The coments in the news article pretty much sum it up ... this "policy" will be like a wet blanket on a campfire that's barely smoldering at this time ...a death kneel to tourism for a LT NOT ST.
I seem to recall that the thai gov't wanted to implement tracking of all foreign tourists in the past . Well now its not going to go away me thinks .
https://www.thephuketnews.com/tat-un...2%A0-76327.php

[Rockheart]

They already track all foreign tourists and permanent residents. You don't see it when you stay in hotels because they report you automatically.
So beware, you are already tracked by default. Even Honey was reporting us.....

If you live in an apartment either yourself or your landlord must report you if you leave your region of residence.
I think when i rented that apartment in Bangkok, when i stayed there I wasn't tracked properly.
When i got to Thailand I went straight to Pattaya to stay in a hotel so that is what was on my entry card.
Then went back to Bangkok to stay in our apartment.

In the past I stayed with Cake's family in Bangkok, now their family is obligated to report me staying there.

"I've been made to feel as if I'm not welcome here," says Zareeka Gardner, a 25-year-old English teacher from the US.
She is one of the many foreigners living in Thailand who has ended up having to pay a fine because her apartment manager failed to promptly file a form saying where she was staying.
Thailand's Immigration Act contains a clause requiring all foreigners to let the authorities know where they're staying at all times."

https://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-49470726

"Justified on grounds of shadowy threats to national security, the new monitoring system revives a decades-old law requiring long-stay foreigners or their Thai landlords to report to the Immigration Bureau within 24 hours of returning to their place of residence from a trip of one night or longer elsewhere.

The reporting law, centered on a now-notorious form known as ‘TM30’ (or Immigration 30), was first passed in 1979 but until early this year it only involved hotels automatically forwarding foreign guests’ passport details to immigration authorities."
https://asiatimes.com/2019/08/police...s-expatriates/

My understanding is the tracking system is flawed and they probably don't have enough resources to analyze all the data.
This is also the case with their antiquated immigration system.
So if there is a smartphone tracking app, what if you take another phone?
They should be able to track you through the existing tourist tracking but they probably don't have the capacity anyway.
Adding another tracking system is pure lunacy.

https://asiatimes.com/2019/08/police...s-expatriates/

Just like when they were going to tag everyone or put ankle bracelets on them or some crap.
https://theladyboyforums.com/asiaboa...ial-simm-cards

The comments on your article are great.

comments.jpg

[George Pill]

I have told you before that this new tracking law was SHIT. It's okay with me because I stay in only 2 hotels for 2 months. Tired of hauling my heavy cameras and luggage around. In the future I think I'll travel lighter and visit Ko Samui and their Katoey shows and Moonlight Parties. Wonder what else is just south of Pattaya that would be interesting.

[flamingofarmer]

Ya, the comments are interesting.

On a positive note.
Curfew to lift, alcohol to flow again Monday

https://coconuts.co/bangkok/news/cur...ifted-july-15/

[P&G]

Tracking people is becoming more or less general. The question is how deep they break your privacy's protection ? I was told that people must declare to the local police each time they move and settle down somewhere. It doesn't sound good. I was surprised since I never had to declare anything. But each time I booked my hotel, the reservation system automatically declared where I was.
The most intrusive system is the Chinese one. Big datas are able to track any one using street cameras and facial recognition. Now offenses are counted by a computer system without sentence and every one's score is used to prohibit access to privileges (becoming a communist party member, getting a credit, getting a job etc ...). Although this may sound highly intrusive, I sometimes wish such a system be applied to people who don't respect other people's safety (mainly on the road)., not that I am for such a system but it seems that would be the only means of compelling people to respect rules. (Actually, I am not for such a system since it's no longer humanly controlled. This just lead a a philosophical debate : how far State authorities should be allowed to control people's acting).

This may sound weird to people living in Central and Western Canada since freedom consists mainly in respecting people and being respected when you meet them. But in countries and places with high density populations freedom is guaranteed by the respect of rules and sometimes too many rules. The problem then doesn't consist in neing free but in having equal rights. Overruling leads to tyranny since not every rule can be equally enforced between individuals so some people won't be controlled by the police and other will be too severely controlled (not only on racist criteria). Maybe China found means to enforce complex rules on equal basis between citizens.

We should be aware that tracking already exists in our countries. An ex work mate told me he had gone with his baby after argueing with his girlfriend (the baby's mother). She called the cops and he found out he had been tracked by cops all time long. He saw troopers riding close to his car on the highway to see what was inside. He turned back after more than 200 km and was eventually arrested on a small road. They took the baby and sent him to a psychiatric hospital where he spent the night before being free.
We are already tracked in OECE countries. Tax adminsitrations know our adresses, so does the police. Each time we apply for a job, want to open a bank account, or get insurances, we must provide evidences of our adress.
Our last App "Stopcovid" doesn't track our position (but as previously explained, the police can already track us if need be and if authorizer by the General Attorney). Other phones are detected through bluetooth connections. Each time I spend more than 15 minutes less than 1 metre away from someone else, his/her identification will be registered in my file and the data will be deleted after 14 days. If I become covid positive , I may declare my case in the app and the system will just warn people who are in my files. The system seems totally unefficient (15 minutes, less than 1 meter). Moreover, the boost function of my antivirus deactivated the app several times.

[flamingofarmer]

Well it looks like the curfew is lifted and restaurants can serve alcohol now but it looks like from what the restaurant owners are saying in the article , it's still going to be a tough go with restrictions still on going within the restaurant as far as capacity and seating goes. And my gut is that because there's so many restaurants to serve so many tourists , who we know are absent presently, his estimation that up to 15% of all the restaurants could go bust is possibly pretty conservative

https://pattayaone.news/thai-restaurants-on-thin-ice-despite-return-of-alcohol-sales/